BCC PHOTO CLASS CLICKS WITH CLOWNING CLASS

Frank Power's photography class probably never used models like these before.

Yes, they wore heavy makeup and outrageous outfits, but none really resembled Margo Hemmingway in all her heavy-browed splendor.

Jingles the Clown, glitter in her hair and on her nose, bounced up and down, bells jingling, and peeped behind a photographer's shoulder as she attempted to snap pictures of another, more coy clown.

"I just always have a lot of fun and it lets me be myself and get away with it," said Jingles, otherwise known as Karen Power, Frank's wife.

Jingles the Clown, who teaches "How to be a Clown for Fun and Profit," at the Broward Community College south campus, was assisted by three of her students in their clown gear during the photo session.

Buttons, Philipo and Cart Wheel struck poses in such rapid succession, and the neophyte photographers, although near the end of the course, had difficulty keeping up.

The combination of the two classes for the one session worked out for members of both. The photographers get to take colorful photos and the clowns get pictures for their portfolios.

"Normally I have the students bring in their families, but I thought this would be an interesting change," said Davie resident Frank Power.

Jingles got her start in clowning seven years ago when she took a clowning course at Nova Community School for the fun of it. She started clowning because her youngest son, suffering with a cleft palate and lip, spent a lot of time in the hospital -- bored.

"I'd see these kids in bed with nothing to do," she said. "As he got older, I started thinking seriously about it. I don't like to go to the play rooms at hospitals, since so many kids can't make it. I go to the individual rooms and I treat the older people just like the kids. I visit everybody."

She goes to seven area hospitals regularly, and visits both children and adults in their rooms. She also works birthday parties and parades. The average professional clown can charge $75 an hour.

"It's getting popular and I think it's great," Karen said. "If I'm down I just get into my clown outfit and go to the hospital. It's really crazy being a clown."

Two of Power's students are already professional clowns, and wanted to fine- tune their skills.

For instance Sharon Merchant (otherwise known as Cartwheels), of Hollywood, needed to practice juggling.

"I didn't have the juggling perfected," said the clown with a wide hoop underneath her purple-and-pink-striped clown suit, which increases her size to overlarge clown proportions. "You can always learn something new. Making people smile -- I always like that."

While Jingles has a giggly, bouncy personality, Cart Wheel plays her clown more straight-faced and coy, relying more on her ludicrous outfit and rainbow hair.

"I enjoy it a lot and it's taught me a lot," Merchant said.

Buttons the Clown, otherwise known as Marvin Lee of Miramar, plays a hobo- type character with neon-pink flowered pants, plaid shirt, lots of button- pins, a derby hat and a red, bulbous nose. He's been at it a year.

"It's a real good outlet," he said. "I decided it was time to take the course to find out what I was doing right and wrong and give some insight into helping people get out of their shells."

Philipo the Clown, otherwise Phil Rizzo, of Hollywood, a Driftwood Middle School student, is the only inexperienced clown in the group. He joined the class for entirely different reasons.

"I was just interested in it for a long time," he said. "It's just the way they act, the faces they had. I like putting on makeup just for fun and people don't know who you are. I want to learn magic to go along with it."

For anyone interested in the Broward Community College course "How to be a Clown for Fun and Profit," the next six-week session begins Feb. 25, 7 to 9:30 p.m. and meets every Wednesday. The fee is $15 and students must provide their own materials.